


Just Because

by cloudcraft



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gift Giving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcraft/pseuds/cloudcraft
Summary: "'What do you want.''You don’t have to look so hostile,' Tenma protests. 'I mean, you don’t even know if I’m going to ask for something.'In response, Yuki simply raises an eyebrow until Tenma lets out a resigned groan, the lines in his face smoothing out into a less obnoxious expression.'Okay, yes, I was going to ask for something,' he admits. “You hang out with Banri sometimes, right?'"Maybe "just because" is a good enough reason for Tenma and Banri to get each other gifts, but Yuki would appreciate if they didn't waste his time too, "just because."





	Just Because

**Author's Note:**

> Written for krsh for Full Bloom Fanletters! Thanks as always to [bananashiro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananashiro/) for editing.

1.

“Yuki.”

Yuki lifts his head at the sound of his name with a stage-ready frown on his face. The way that Tenma said his name gives him all the reason for suspicion that he needs. Despite him sitting on the floor of their room with a full overcoat in his lap, needle in hand, Tenma doesn’t seem to care that he was obviously busy.

“What do you want.” 

“You don’t have to look so hostile,” Tenma protests, plopping down across the table from him. He wrinkles his nose, a classic Tenma defensive move. “I mean, you don’t even know if I’m going to ask for something.”

In response, Yuki simply raises an eyebrow until Tenma lets out a resigned groan, the lines in his face smoothing out into a less obnoxious expression.

“Okay, yes, I was going to ask for something,” he admits. “You hang out with Banri sometimes, right? Like you go shopping together.” 

“Not as much as you two do.” 

“But you do, that’s what I’m getting at,” Tenma pushes on. “Anyway, do you remember ever being out with him and noticing him commenting on something he liked, but didn’t buy?” 

Yuki sighs and slips the needle into the fabric so he doesn’t lose his place. 

“You’re asking because you want to get him a gift, but you don’t know what,” he says, a statement of fact rather than a question. 

“What, something wrong with that?” Tenma shoots back. He raises his voice for absolutely no reason, as usual. 

“No. You’re both just predictable, is all.” 

“‘Both?’” Tenma wrinkles his nose again. “Does that mean that you have an idea of what he might want?”

Yuki rolls his eyes.

“Sure, you’re free to interpret it that way.” 

“Stop being difficult and tell me already!” 

\---

_(two days earlier)_

“Anyway, you’re Tenma’s roommate and all, so you wouldn’t mind helping me, right?” Banri grinned across the cafe table at him, as if he hadn’t heard all of Yuki’s arguments to the contrary. 

“If you know exactly what you want to get him, why can’t you just go buy it instead of wasting my time?” Yuki crossed his arms, staring down both Banri and the expensive latte Banri bought him in an attempt to wheedle him into unpaid labor. 

“It has to be custom made because Tenma’s rich and spoiled, otherwise he could just buy it himself.”

“Him being spoiled is even more reason he doesn’t need anything!” Yuki blurted out. Hearing a murmur of surprise from the table next to them, he bristled and lowered his voice. “It’s not even his birthday or anything.” 

“Well, no.” Banri leaned on his elbow and stirred the dregs of his coffee. “But he’s always busting his ass to come to leader meetings on top of his shoots and his practices with you guys. You know he got his manager to reschedule a magazine interview so he could come to our training camp?” 

Yuki did know this. He had been in the room when Tenma called Igawa about it.

“So I figure, why not give him something to show that the rest of us notice, and appreciate him. As one troupe leader to another,” Banri said, his eyes drifting farther to the side the more sincere his voice became. Did he think that avoiding eye contact made it any less sentimental? 

Yuki let out a deep sigh and picked up his fancy, overpriced latte. 

“You’re taking me shopping for this.”

“Obviously. No sweat.”

“You’re going to carry all my bags and buy me lunch.”

“Yessir~” 

\---

“So what’s this for? Banri’s birthday isn’t for a while.” 

“Yeah, it’s not for anything in particular, I just wanted to do something nice for him.” Tenma purses his lips, looking put upon that he even has to explain himself. “Even though he’s busy with his new college courses and clubs, he still makes time to hang out when my schedule is open. I don’t hang out much with people my age at school or anything, so...”

“Doesn’t Taichi go to school with you?” 

“I just want to say thank you, okay?” Tenma harrumphs and folds his arms. “And shopping for Banri is the worst because he doesn’t really _need_ anything. Whenever he sees anything he wants, he just buys it.” 

“He does that when I shop with him too, so I can’t help you there,” Yuki says, picking up the coat again. 

“Yuki—!”

“That’s why,” Yuki interrupts and narrows his eyes. “If you want to get him something different, it has to be something he wouldn’t normally pick out himself. Something that he doesn’t realize will suit him.” 

He folds up the coat again as Tenma tries to work through that, then turns back to him.

“So what would that be?” 

“Thanks Tenma, useless as always.” Yuki folds up the coat and sets it aside, ignoring Tenma’s squawks of protest. “Get your laptop and credit card, I have a few ideas.” 

 

2\. 

When both of them show up to their karaoke date with bulging shopping bags, it only takes half a second for them to realize what happened. Some laughing, some half-hearted bickering leads to Tenma pushing his gift over to Banri first. 

“It’s a gift from me, so you know it’s good.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Still chuckling to himself about the ridiculousness of it all, Banri sets the bag in his lap and pulls out tissue paper by the fistfuls before retrieving the backpack that lay beneath it. 

“Whoa.” He whistles, turning the lime green material over in his hands. “This is a _color_.”

“Yeah, you don’t own much light green, right?” Tenma cuts in, grinning. “It’s an ‘accent color’—it’ll stand out more because you don’t wear a lot of it.” 

“You read that online or something?” Banri grins and stands up, throwing it over his shoulders and turning around to show it off. “Not bad, not bad. Makes me easy to find in a crowd.”

“You were already easy to find in a crowd.” 

“Well, yeah.” Banri plops back down into his seat, backpack still on, and pushes his gift bag toward Tenma. 

“Alright, your turn.” 

Tenma pulls the bag into his lap and pushes aside the tissue paper to reveal a folded rectangle of denim. 

“A jacket?” he asks, looking up again.

“Just take it out already.” 

Pulling the denim jacket out of the bag, he shakes it out and holds it up, blinking curiously until he turns it around. His eyes widen. Banri’s grin broadens. 

A large sunflower pattern is embroidered across the back in yellow and orange with a small “T.S.” neatly sewn into the corner. 

“Pretty good, yeah?” Banri sips his tea with a satisfied smirk.

“Are you kidding me?” Tenma turns it to the front, then to the back again. “It’s great, how long did it take Yuki to make it?” 

“Pfff—” Banri nearly spits out the tea but manages to pull himself together. “Seriously? You couldn’t believe that I did this one solo?” 

“It crossed my mind, but it’s definitely his work, or at least he helped you a lot.” 

“You’re one to talk,” Banri shot back, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Because there’s no way you’d find this brand just by googling ‘accent color.’” 

Tenma glares as he stands up to tug the jacket over his shoulders—the fit is perfect. 

“Okay, I might have had some help, but it all worked out, right?” 

Banri snorted, pulling out his phone to snap a picture. 

“Yeah, it definitely worked out that Yuki got us both presents instead of us getting them for each other.” 

Tenma opens his mouth to fire a comeback but slowly closes it when he realizes he has nothing to say for himself. Instead, he sighs and folds his arms across his chest. The jacket still fits immaculately, not the slightest bit of strain in the shoulders. 

“... We should get him something, huh.”

 

3\. 

As with all things, Tenma isn’t able to hide the surprise for long. The moment he sees Yuki in the dorms after school, he asks if Yuki has been back to their room yet, which more or less gives away the whole thing. Absolutely worthless at keeping secrets. 

Poking his head into their room, Yuki’s eyes fall upon a thick hardcover book sitting on their floor table. He knows it by the cover illustration in an instant: The Dressmaker’s Compendium, A Guide to Fashion Design and Figure Drawing. One of the defining texts in the fashion world, required reading at all the major fashion schools, and way too expensive for Yuki to afford. Until now, he’d been squinting at illegal PDFs online. 

Huh, they did something useful for once.

He smiles as he settles down in front of it, almost like he’s sitting down with a bible for prayer. Honestly, he may as well be. 

Behind the front cover, tucked neatly against the spine, is an index card with both Banri and Tenma’s handwriting:

_The bag was slick, got lots of compliments at school. Lucky for you, I was in charge of choosing your return gift instead of Tenma. Make something really good for the next show!!_

_The jacket fits well, thanks. Don’t stay up late making everything in this book._

Yuki snorts at the card, signed by both of them—who did they think they were?—and tucks it back in its place before opening to the first page.


End file.
